Bridgeport Crushes Morgantown, 49-0, to Improve to 2-0; Moses, Love Combine for Five TDs
By Chris Johnson on September 06, 2024
All things considered, the Bridgeport High School football team would like to see its series with Morgantown continue after this season.
It’s been a good recent rivalry dating back to 2019 with three of the games being decided by one possession. Morgantown even had some momentum coming into Friday night’s game at Pony Lewis Field, winning the previous two regular-season matchups.
The Indians didn’t likely entice the Mohigans into extending the series on Friday as they built a 34-0 halftime lead en route to a convincing 49-0 victory were they were dominant on both sides of the ball.
Alex Moses had a career-high 123 yards on eight rushing attempts and three touchdowns. Josh Love added 86 yards on 12 carries and two TDs as the Indians finished with 453 yards of total offense.
Yet, it was the defense that stole the show for the second consceutive week. The Indians held the Mohigans to 79 yards and Morgantown advanced past midfield just once, on its last possession of a game that ended with a running clock.
“I knew in 7-on-7 season we were going to be special on defense,” Moses said. “We play teams, and we are fearless. We used to have mental errors and were afraid we were going to get beat. Now, we don’t care about that, we care about doing our job and I really believe that is why we are succeeding at stoping teams.
“Nobody is trying to be a superstar, everyone is doing their job, all 11 of us. There is nobody you can single out.”
Counting the 77-0 victory in last week’s season-opener against Buckhannon-Upshur, Bridgeport has outscored its opponents through two games, 126-0, and the Indians have allowed a grand total of 83 yards.
The play of the defense certainly makes life easier for an explosive, balanced offense.
In the two opening quarters of the first two games, the BHS first-team offense has now produced 14 touchdowns on 15 possessions.
After another strong defensive stand to start the game against Morgantown, the Bridgeport offense again showed off its quick-strike ability. On second down, Timmy Jeffres bust loose for a 49-yard pickup to give the Indians a first-and-goal situation.
After a run of 4 yards from Jack Spatafore, Moses closed things out with a 4-yard touchdown run. Gavin Williams booted his first of six PAT kicks to make it 7-0.
After the BHS defense forced a third consecutive punt by the Mohigans, just two plays were needed before the Indians were in the end zone again. Moses picked up 23 on a first-down and carry and Josh Love followed a 42-yard touchdown run.
Moses capped off Bridgeport’s fourth possession with a 20-yard run on a buck laterial. Moses had a pair of shifty cutbacks on his second TD of the game as Bridgeport extended its lead to 20-0.
“It’s my blocks, Moses said. “I’ can’t do that without the guys blocking for me. If I don’t see green, I’m getting brought down in the backfield. If it wasn’t for people like Bear Metheney, Wes Brown, Noah West, I’m not going anywere. You go watch that play and if Noah West doesn’t get that block, I’m not going anywhere, period.”
The BHS defense continued to shine as Donovan Williams came up with a huge tackle for a loss on a fourth down play which led to a 3-yard touchdown run from Love and a 27-0 lead.
On the Mohigians next drive, the BHs defense got a boost with Carter Zuliani’s third pass deflection at the line of scrimmage this season and Jon Bender’s first sack of the season to once again help give the BHS offense prime field position.
Moses made them pay with his third TD of the half, scoring on a 50-yard run on the next snap.
“We played well, our kids didn’t get overwhelmed by the atmosphere,” BHS coach Tyler Phares said. “Last time we came up here, I can’t say we beat ourselves, Morgantown had a big part of it, but at the same time, the last time we came here, we didn’t feel like we played our best football game.
“Our kids work extremely hard, they deserve it and all the credit goes to them. They’ve been thinking about some of the teams that have beaten us, some of the things that have happened to us the last few years. I think they wanted to get that bad taste out of their mouth.”
BHS tacked on second-half touchdowns thanks to a 5-yard run from Spatafore and a 2-yard run from Sam Goodwin.
Jeffress also went over the 100-yard mark on the ground, finishing with 102 yards on five carries.
Spatafore also completed 1-of-3 passes, hooking up with Donovan Williams for a 27-yard play that helped set up the second TD run for Moses.
Morgantown’s stellar running back AJ Thomas, who had over 150 yards and two touchdowns in Week 1 against Parkersburg, was held to 33 yards on 14 carries. Alex Himes completed 9-of-14 passes for 37 yards.
The Indians return to action in Week 3 back at Wayne Jamison Field to take on East Fairmont.
Editor's Note:Top photo shows Moses (12) looking for running room. Love (14) and Metheney (72) bring down Morgantown's Alex Thomas (2) in the second photo. The third photo features Jeffress (23) applying a stiff arm on his way to a big pickup on the ground and
in the bottom photo Donovan Williams (4) reels in a reception. Photos by Joe LaRocca.
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